Mississippi State University Looks At Eliminating Underutilized Programs, Including Several In Ag

Agriculture education will take a hit at Mississippi State University if recommendations by a campus-based committee become a reality. The committee, charged with finding cost-cutting measures for the cash-strapped institution, called for eliminating several ag degrees, including:

• The undergrad degree in integrated pest management.
• Master's degrees in horticulture and food sciences.
• The doctorates in weed science.

The degree programs are considered "underutilized," meaning only a handful of students follow those paths of study.

Several ag-related department mergers also were recommended. Those include merging:

• The ag econ program into MSU's main economics department.
• Placing animal and dairy sciences and poultry sciences under one department
• Folding entomology, plant sciences and plant pathology into a single department.

To be fair, few disciplines appeared to be spared in a long list of recommendations.

In all, 17 degree programs would be eliminated. Specific types of degrees were cited for elimination in architecture, biological engineering, computer sciences, engineering and education. Recommended mergers included combining the accounting and finance programs.

The group making the recommendations - the Select Committee on Efficiencies and Innovations - also called for incentives that would encourage 800 faculty and staff members to retire early. The committee is composed of faculty, staff, administrative and student representatives and was formed by MSU President Mark Keenum.

The recommendations are not binding.

State revenues have fallen short of expectations for 16 straight months. Governor Haley Barbour has called for an 8.2% cut in most state agencies' budgets by the end of June. The state's eight public universities are facing a potential 23% budget reduction over the next two years, according to one estimate.

Any form of tax increase to save programs - on or off university campuses - seems unlikely. Barbour, a Republican, is quietly moving toward a run for President, political observers in Mississippi believe, and pushing for increased taxes would blow his standing as a physical conservative.

- Owen Taylor